Welcome to the B-Side of the business where you get an inside peek of the backstage area of JDP.

I’m Jasemine, in case you didn’t know. I travel as a photographer, I write novels that I swear are better than my personal instagram narratives , and fashion is my favorite off duty hobby. I live life like a rockstar, and every photoshoot is like performing in my favorite city.

Fan Friday: The Good Soldier by Jill Robi

Fan Friday: The Good Soldier by Jill Robi

I don’t care who you are… You need a copy of this book in your closet. I’m serious. Girl, guy, vampire.. Jill Robi wrote this book in a way that almost anyone can fall in love with it. Even if you’re a villain. Brace yourselves, this Friday I’m gonna fan girl about Jill Robi and her book The Good Soldier… again.

Fan Friday: The Good Soldier

‘Not your average super hero novel.’

That’s how I titled my amazon review. My runner up title was 25% love, 25% hero, 25%snark and 25% Waka Flaka because I said so. [You can probably see why I chose my first one]

I pondered it over for a bit, and I remember thinking like… “Is this corny?” After much deliberation, I decided that it was true. Not that it was corny, but true that The Good Soldier is not your average super hero novel. Believe it or not, I hate super hero novels and even after our interview together, I was nervous to read this book. I’m glad I got over that. I finished this book in three days. [It would’ve been sooner if I hadn’t had school.]

If I’m not convincing you enough, just read the prologue. I’m telling you, it had me hooked. The book starts with some shag wagon fight action and the prologue ends with the sentence: Too bad hope was a lying bitch.

This book’s got spunk, edge, and a lot of nerve for dragging me kicking and screaming into a tale of so much betrayal that I could’ve punched about three characters IN THE FACE. It’s really an emotional journey through the lives of the people involved. This book was also very hard to put down. Throughout the entire tale, you find yourself falling more in love with the somewhat crooked male lead than you do with our heroine. That’s not to say that she isn’t lovable because Reese is the type of woman this world needs. She’s quick on her feet, she’s determined, and she’s human.. well… Okay not exactly. She really embodies what like age 20-30 women are feeling. It’s real.

To Summarize The Book:

Reese Alexander was born with something special. That something special was so special that her mother hated her and she was forced to seek found her own hole in the ground. She was a waitress, a movie theater attendant, and spent most of her time outside of work having flashbacks in her dingy studio apartment. That is, until Nic Salone came in and offered her a deal that she couldn’t refused.

It gets harrier as the book goes on. You find out some secrets that you’re almost cringing at in a good way. It tackles some of the scariest things a young man and woman can face including juvenile detention, the dangers of living in a dark neighborhood, and alcoholic sobriety. Robi has a way of telling a story that actually makes you feel as though you are the story. The imagery and impression she leaves between these pages is almost so deep you’d swear you lived it.

My Favorite Character: Nic

Nic is a hunk. A very helpful, Wacka Flacka blasting, suit wearing hunk. I mentioned his taste in music earlier but once you read the book, you’ll kinda get the gist of the reason why I giggle everytime I think about it. He’s literally your average dream guy right down to the awkward “What do girls wear?” and the average bad boy sex life. Robi really captures the male personality like no other. It’s not overly done and you’d almost predict by not reading the author name, that this book may have been written by a male… Yeah that’s how well it’s written. His character just gets more complex with every passing chapter and you simply just kind of end up falling in love with him. He went from “Wow, what a douche,” to “what a babe”, to finally.. “Oh baby. Come here.”

Second runner up is definitely Matt. {but I can’t tell you about that because I can’t do it without spoiler alerts}. My only 4/5 type review thought is that Matthew doesn’t get enough “screen time”. He’s gonna be one of those characters that I’ll always regret not having a bigger role but his existence was worth it. His role.. and the damn secretary. *shakes fist* I never got to see her do her job.

My Favorite Scene: a tie between the train scene and the many phases of Donya.

I have two. When you get introduced to Donya’s assistant and her office, I literally lose my mind a little. Danya is a great chunk of what I think an unfortunate form of a strong independent woman is. While Reese embraced her victim-like life for the longest, Donya wanted to take everything by the horns. That includes her assistant and the scene where he literally leaps out of her office for a lunch break is priceless. It proves that strong women are real and that if you build your empire correctly, you can give off the strongest vibe of pretty much whatever I want.

My other favorite scene is when Reese go out on one of her infamous training sequences with Nic. They’re on a train line in Chicago, and Nic’s sitting in his suit looking fancy. [in my mind, Nic is played by actor James Marsters because why not?] Anyway, Reese is in this superhero getup, and these guys get on the bus.. They’re going back and forth with Nic and suddenly Reese gets up to defend her ‘knight in shining luxury wear’. One of the men turned to her and tell her to sit her “goofy ass” down. This scene is significant because it’s so Chicago. I could hear the snarky octaves of disgust in a young random kid’s voice and I laughed out loud. Coincidentally, I was reading the scene on the L and I wondered what my own reaction would be to seeing a ‘vigilante’ on the train.

The story is based in Chicago and you don’t forget it. Robi takes some valuable landmarks of my beloved hometown and makes sure that through out the book, each character is partaking in the both the wonders and horrors of the windy city. It’s just as suiting that she herself is from the windy city! When I sat down and talked to her, I really got the vibe that she was passionate about this release. She should be. You’re going to be in love with this book, undoubtedly. It’s well written, it’s emotional, and it’s got action in it too!

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Jasemine Denise Photography

I travel as a photographer, I write novels , and I fan girl a lot. I have an unnecessary attachment to all things 80s punk, 90s hip hop, and girl power. I typically write in the same tone that I talk in so you should probably be prepared for that. Just saying.